Lightnings Daughter, Mary Herbert [year 7 reading list .TXT] 📗

Five days passed, and the travelers gained very little on the gorthling. Secen estimated they were still about a day behind him. Although he was moving very fast, he still made no attempt to hide his tracks. He seemed to be deliberately luring the hunters after him.

On the fifth day the company passed close to Dangari Treld, so Athlone sent one of his warriors to check on the camp. The Dangari had grown sedentary over the years and left many of their people at home during the gathering. They bred and trained superb horses and usual y took their breeding stallions and brood mares to cooler pastures in the mountains for the summer. Athlone prayed the gorthling had not found any of the Dangari.

To his relief, the warrior returned with some gifts of food and greetings from the Dangari in the treld. They were unharmed and had seen no sign of Branth. Lord Koshyn and the main body of the clan had left many days before and were probably already at the gathering.

The travelers rode on beside the Isin River as quickly as they dared go. They managed to draw a little closer to the gorthling until he was perhaps only half a day ahead, but he remained infuriatingly out of reach. The pursuers did not dare force their Harachan horses any harder for fear of killing them and losing all hope of catching the gorthling in time.

The long, hard days of riding were frustrating to Gabria. She spent the endless hours studying the death mask of Valorian and trying to think of ways to destroy the gorthling. Unfortunately the mask gave her no answers, and her knowledge and experience were so limited that she had very little idea of what she might have to face when she finally confronted the creature.

The only two things of which she was certain was that she had to fight the creature and that she would do it alone. Athlone and Sayyed had not brought up the subject of sorcery again since that night, and Gabria did not care to remind them. Nevertheless, she knew the two men well enough to realize they had not put aside their eagerness to use their powers. At any other time she would have been overjoyed to help them and would have done anything she could to learn more and teach al her companions, including Tam. But not now. Not so they could face a gorthling.

If only she knew how to convince them of the deadly fol y of their desire to help. She sensed they had not given up their wish to learn. Athlone and Sayyed were spending an unusual amount of time talking together out of her hearing. For two men who barely spoke to each other only a month ago, they had suddenly become very friendly. Gabria did not know what they were up to, but it only increased her determination to slip away at the best opportunity and confront the gorthling herself.

If she was going to succeed in leaving the men, she knew she would have to plan her departure just right. She was not a good tracker and she did not want to risk losing Branth's trail. It was possible that he could detour from the Isin and not go to the gathering at al . Therefore, she wanted to stay with the men until they were close enough to the gorthling for her to find him, yet far enough away so the men could not easily catch up with her. Nara was not going to like the idea, but Gabria trusted the Hunnuli mare to help her.

The woman sat on Nara's broad back and forced herself to be patient. The waiting was difficult. It gave her imagination ample opportunity to run wild---an exhausting luxury she could ill afford. They were still many leagues behind the gorthling and had a long way to go. She clenched her jaw. It was time to find the gorthling and finish the ordeal. Branth was not going to slip away from her again.

*****

As the gorthling and its pursuers headed south, the eleven clans of Valorian were making their way across the grasslands to the Tir Samod. For as many years as the clanspeople had inhabited the Ramtharin Plains, the clans had gathered together each summer at the junction of the Isin and the Goldrine rivers to renew their ties and worship their gods as one.

The gathering gave the chieftains the opportunity to meet in council and establish the laws that governed the clans. Through their efforts, they carried on the traditions handed down from their fathers, maintained clan unity, and enhanced their own authority.

While the chiefs met in council, their people were also strengthening clan unity. The gathering gave everyone a chance to renew old acquaintances, visit family members in other clans, strike up new friendships, and arrange betrothals. It also gave the clanspeople an excellent outlet for competition and entertainment.

One of the most popular attractions of the gathering was the huge bazaar and livestock market that sprang up even before the last clan arrived. Merchants and traders from the Five Kingdoms and the Turic tribes came early and set up booths to trade with the enthusiastic clanspeople. Along with the foreign merchants, the clan artisans added their own specialties to the market, so the people had a wide and richly varied supply of goods from which to choose. They loved to trade and batter, and they pitched into the haggling with great delight.

The days of a gathering were usually wild, noisy, and exciting. This year, however, the people were restrained. Too much had happened at the gathering the summer before for the clans to reunite peacefully. Clan had fought against clan in a bloody war that was still fresh in people's memories.

With that danger in mind, Lord Koshyn of the Dangari and Lord Sha Umar of the Jehanan made certain that their people arrived at the gathering first. The